Facility managers who want their facilities to lead the pack in terms of innovation, sustainability, and a reduced environmental footprint are embracing LEED (leadership in energy and environmental design) principles and best practices. More than just a catchy, fleeting acronym, the LEED initiative is the most popular green building certification in the world.
Most workplaces (especially those with many employees) are microcosms of society as a whole. Within a company’s walls are individuals of varying ages, races, ethnicities, interests, talents, skills, and temperaments. While most organizations have a hierarchical setup (with management at the top and interns at the bottom), each employee, regardless of their role, age, or life experience has been chosen to be part of the company for a reason.
With the increasing popularity of minimalist office setups that feature neutral colors, streamlined layouts, and a “less is more” approach to décor, office designers are turning to texture to introduce a playful, less-sterile ambiance to the workplace. Textures heighten a room’s sensory elements and can impart nostalgic, homey, comfortable, calming, uplifting feelings to everyday spaces. Life is simply better when it is multi-dimensional, and texture is the ideal way to add dimension without being distracting in a professional setting.
Typically, the larger a corporation is, the more of an unspoken separation there is between departments. Actually, there is also often a very visible separation that sends a message about how high (or low) they rank in the proverbial food chain. There are those with spacious corner offices, those with offices, and those with cubicles (or who work at shared communal spaces, etc.) Especially in very large corporations, these distinctions are necessary based on employees’ roles in the company. A corporate attorney, for example, needs the privacy of an office. So does a CEO.
First impressions are lasting impressions, and in many cases the first contact a customer has with a business is on the telephone. Even more importantly, the first contact a potential customer (or employee) has with a business is on the telephone. Your receptionist plays a more important role in helping you achieve your business development goals than you may realize!
Unquestionably, one of the most anxiously anticipated business announcements for 2018 continues to be which North American city Amazon will choose as the site of its $5 billion, eventual 50,000-employee HQ2. One reason why the ecommerce giant needs a HQ2 is that the company has outgrown its 8.1 million-square-foot Seattle HQ1, and there’s simply not enough land left in that city to expand.
Decades ago, before the risks of smoking were confirmed and publicized, one risk office workers unknowingly faced was inhaling second-hand smoke. Now that everyone knows that smoking has been proven to cause cancer, and smoking has been banned in most workplaces, office workers face another risk. Sitting. And, in fact, many experts have proclaimed, is the new smoking.
Designing an office is a lot like a jigsaw puzzle. There are many pieces that must come together to complete the puzzle. Some things are easy to complete, while others take a bit more time. If you’ve ever worked on a jigsaw puzzle, you probably know that it’s smart to fit the corners together first then pull out all of the straight-edged pieces and complete the frame, before tackling the interior pieces, which are trickier to get right.
According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, ergonomics is “an applied science concerned with designing and arranging things people use so that the people and things interact most efficiently and safely.”
Ergonomics is applied to homes – light switches and appliances that are easy to reach, for example. It is applied to vehicles – most vehicle seats are equipped with easy-to-reach controls that allow individuals to easily adjust their seat up, down, back, and forward for maximum comfort and visibility. It is even applied to packaging – such as ergonomically friendly packaging to replace non-ergonomically friendly clamshell packaging. The area where ergonomics is most in demand, however, is in the workplace.
Is your business growing and do you anticipate needing to hire new employees in the near future? Do you anticipate your on-premises workforce to decrease in the near future, perhaps because you’re allowing employees to transition to a telecommuting arrangement? Do you foresee a steady in-house staffing level, but want to redesign your outdated space? Modular office design is ideal for all of these scenarios!
Modular office design is the most flexible way to configure an office. Instead of being limited to permanent walls and floor plans, modular walls can be added, moved, and removed – easily and without the mess and inconvenience of construction. Modular office designs are about strategic configuration as opposed to inflexible, permanent construction. Besides the fact that modular walls are infinitely flexible and reconfigurable, here are three additional benefits of modular office designs.